1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of printing, and in particular to systems and methods for facilitating the configuration of printers.
2. Description of Related Art
Computer printers, which are ubiquitous in most modern organizations, permit the quick printing of stored documents. Designers of modern printers have focused relentlessly on improving printer speed, throughput, features, efficiency, and cost resulting in virtually universal adoption of printers. The proliferation of printers has led to their deployment in a wide variety of information processing environments. Accordingly, in an attempt to allow users flexibility in customizing printers, printer manufacturers have provided users with a wide variety of configuration options. Typically, these options may be set or changed using an operator control panel coupled to the printer, or through a user interface displayed on a monitor coupled to a user's computer. In some instances, the user interface may be provided by a printer driver or a print controller coupled to the printer.
While the plethora of configuration options available on printers has facilitated printer deployment across a variety of environments, it has also contributed to an increase the complexity of printer configuration for both manufacturers and end-users. For example, a manufacturer may have to deal with a large number of potentially different configuration menus for individual printer models. From the standpoint of an end user, the user may have to navigate through a maze of pull-down menus before being able to locate and change a specific configuration setting. Moreover, the increased flexibility afforded to users has come at the expense of decreased control exercised by system administrators over printer configuration. For example, a system administrator may not be able to prevent one or more users or user groups from altering a specific printer configuration, especially if the configuration setting is directly accessible using an operator control panel coupled to the printer. Therefore, there is a need for a simple, efficient, and easily deployable systems and methods that facilitate the configuration management of printers.